Augusta University Health opens new Pathology Core Laboratory

Augusta University Health held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this spring to celebrate the partnership with Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, a Danaher Company and a global leader in clinical diagnostics, for the opening the new AU Health Pathology/Beckman Coulter Core Laboratory on the Health Sciences Campus.

The Core Lab opened on the third floor of Professional Building 1 with nearly 10,000 square feet of space dedicated to state-of-the-art laboratory testing.

The lab’s open layout was a result of service directors, lab managers, supervisors and staff, IT personnel, architects, and engineers seeking to design a space to encourage collaboration and functionality to better serve our patients.

This move is part of a multimillion-dollar project of relocating the laboratories from the Augusta University Medical Center, and the first of three phases involved with enhancing sections of the Medical College of Georgia’s Department of Pathology.

“Our department processes about 3 million tests annually, and we are grateful to partner with Danaher and Beckman Coulter because their new technology coupled with our pathology expertise will help us turn around test results faster and more efficiently for our patients,” said Dr. Amyn M. Rojiani, chairman of MCG’s Department of Pathology and clinical service chief for Pathology at AU Health. “Implementation of the automation line in the Core Laboratory is only the beginning of the planned enhancements in all other areas of the laboratory.”

According to Rojiani, the goal of the new lab is to enhance patient care and client satisfaction by improving accuracy, timeliness and cost effectiveness of all pathology services.

The lab’s improvements in informatics technology are expected to facilitate data analysis to improve quality management and patient care outcomes while reducing the cost of operations. The highly automated processes will also reduce the risk of lab technicians handling potentially infectious specimens.

Other benefits resulting from the university’s partnership with Beckman Coulter Diagnostics include the Core Lab’s expansion of the use of bar code technology to improve patient safety and quality, and the lab will have access to new technology and on-site service engineers who can quickly repair equipment.

Learn more about MCG’s Department of Pathology.